Troops shut down
Iraqi newspaper
U.S. authorities claim
an extremist Shiite cleric’s
newspaper promoted
violence and misinformation
By Ken Dilanian
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S.-led
occupation authority dispatched sol
diers to shut down the newspaper of
an extremist Shiite cleric Sunday,
charging that the paper repeatedly
published misinformation designed
to incite violence against U S. Uoops.
The closure prompted as many as
3,000 of followers of the cleric, Moq
tadr Sadr, to assemble for an angry
demonsuation that blocked Uafhc on
a main Baghdad thoroughfare.
The protesters chanted "Long live
Sadr" and "America is just infidels,"
and some burned an American flag.
Iraqi police were nowhere to be seen,
and U.S. troops looked on from a
distance.
The newspaper closure and the
protest illustrated the coalition's
dilemma as it tries to promote dem
ocratic values in Iraq while also
combating what it sees as dangerous
extremism.
Alaa-eldin Elsadr, a spokesman for
the U.S.-led coalition, said he accom
panied about 50 U.S. Uoops to the of
fices of the Sadr organization's weekly
al Hauza newspaper. The soldiers or
dered employees out of the building
and sealed it. The paper will be closed
for at least 60 days, Elsadr said.
Elsadr gave newspaper officials a
letter from LI.S. Ambassador L. Paul
Bremer that said the paper pub
lished misinformation, including ar
ticles blaming terrorist attacks on
coalition forces.
"These false articles not only mis
lead readers but constitute a real
threat of violence against coalition
forces and Iraqi citizens who cooper
ate with the coalition in the recon
struction of Iraq," the letter said.
I
Sheik Mahmood al Sawdani, a Sadr
spokesman, denied that the newspa
per had incited violence and said it
was shut down because it "rejects the
occupation."
"This is a contradiction to the new
constitution," said Juma Khanjar, 44,
a taxi driver who came for the protest.
"The Americans said there is freedom
of the press. Where is the freedom of
the press?"
Iraq's interim constitution, which
takes effect July 1, provides for free
dom of the press and freedom of
speech. It does not discuss when
speech becomes incitement to vio
lence. The coalition is setting up a
news media commission that will
come up with rules about such issues.
In the United States, courts have al
lowed state laws against incitement to
violence. But the language has to be
far more explicit than anything the
Sadr newspaper said, according to
coalition officials' translations of the
offending passages.
On Feb. 26, an article claimed that
a suicide bombing that targeted a Shi
ite town south of Baghdad, killing 53,
was a rocket "fired by an (American)
Apache helicopter and not a car
bomb," Elsadr said.
Another article was headlined
"Bremer follows the steps of Sad
dam, " and criticized coalition work
in Iraq.
Elsadr acknowledged that such a
shutdown would not happen in the
United States, but added, "Iraq is not
America. Iraq is going through a very
sensitive time right now, and, while
there is freedom of the press, that free
dom must be used responsibly."
Most of the protesters arrived after
hearing about the closure on mosque
loudspeakers in Sadr City, a poor Shi
ite enclave of Baghdad named after
Sadr's father, who was killed by Sad
dam Hussein.
(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Dilanian reports
for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Nation & World News
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